What This Is About:
Following a leveraged buyout by the Saudi Arabian government, the publisher Electronic Arts has announced the closure of the studio BioWare and the cancellation of their next game, Mass Effect: Universe (previously known as Mass Effect 5). BioWare is a studio that specialized in creating rich worlds with characters that captivated gamers for over 30 years: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. A lack of dedicated resources, crunch, trend-chasing, and shifting ambiguous plans from the leadership at Electronic Arts (EA) put the studio into a downward spiral from which they have yet to recover. Electronic Arts decision to close BioWare and cancel the next Mass Effect jeopardizes the studio's incredible legacy.
A leaked 2026 N7 Day trailer shows a promising chance for recovery if given the opportunity to continue. A petition by fans has gone up, urging Electronic Arts to commit to the continued development of Mass Effect: Universe with proper funding, adequate staffing, and time allocation. If these conditions cannot be met, then Electronic Arts is urged to license the Mass Effect intellectual property (IP) to another studio that can, or to sell the Mass Effect intellectual property outright rather than allow it to languish in the "EA Vault". A fate met by Dead Space, Alice, Titanfall, Mirror's Edge and many other incredible "dormant" IPs owned by the publisher.
A #SaveMassEffect petition is seeking your support.
Update #1: The Canadian government is purportedly looking to buy BioWare if Electronic Arts will sell.
Update #2: Fans are calling for a boycott of all Electronic Arts products and services in protest of the company's actions.
The Controversy:
In their official press announcement Electronic Arts stated that "early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending". This statement struck many as odd because the first Mass Effect 5 trailer was shown in 2020. Even if Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare's most recent game to release flopped, there should have been at least four years of development work already completed on the next Mass Effect. How could 'Universe' not be almost completed in 2026 and ready to ship? A reddit user called 'rasengo727' who claimed to be an employee at Electronic Arts, said that they were aware of a new Mass Effect trailer months ago and were as puzzled as everyone else about the "early development" statement from Electronic Arts. The BioWare team was made up of only 50 people whom Electronic Arts regularly pulled away from development on the next Mass Effect to work on other, unrelated projects, potentially impacting progress on the next Mass Effect game.
A live-action TV series was in the works at the company Amazon, and as far as anyone knows is still on track to be completed. With the cancellation of the next Mass Effect video game, what will become of the TV series which was meant to act as a prequel to Mass Effect: Universe? What are Electronic Arts' plans for the future of the Mass Effect series going forward? To put it on ice indefinitely? The last Mass Effect game to release came out nearly 10 years ago and the series still has so many unresolved storylines and mysteries that have yet to be resolved.
There are rumors that the BioWare developers attempted to buy out the studio and Mass Effect IP before it was shuttered, but Electronic Arts wasn't interested in a deal despite the company being $20 billion in debt (due to the leveraged buyout). BioWare was such an important company to Canada that the government is looking to potentially buy the studio if they can get Electronic Arts to sell. For now Mass Effect fans will have to make peace will the series potentially ending for good, and look forward to upcoming spiritual successors such as The Expanse: Osiris Reborn and Exodus, the latter of which is being worked on by former BioWare talent.
Obituary:
The polish developer CD Projekt Red posted a tribute to BioWare who played a role in their history 20 years ago. The relationship between CD Projekt and BioWare began with a localizing deal for Baldur's Gate in Poland. BioWare let CD Projekt borrow their "Aurora Engine" for the first Witcher game, and BioWare shared a space with CD Projekt at E3 2004, giving the studio a chance to show the world its new RPG. "That connection paved the way to The Witcher 3. Without BioWare, we might not have had Cyberpunk or Edgerunners." Bioware was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2007.
The Belgian publisher Larian Studios, who followed up BioWare's work with the critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate III, stated:
"This is not something I ever expected to see. Larian and Bioware started their trajectories in the games industry at the same time and Bioware led the way in making RPGs big. It's almost unimaginable that we're now entering an era were the name Bioware won't show up anymore when discussing upcoming RPGs. What a loss for all of us."
Geoff Keighley, the host of the annual Game Awards, went to bat for the first Mass Effect back in 2008 when Fox News ran their infamous story on the game. Both Fox News and a psychologist who hadn't played the game, argued that Mass Effect should be rated for 'Adults Only' on the grounds that it was full of graphic sex, violence, and treated women as objects. Geoff Keighley stood up for Mass Effect, and the psychologist later apologized after seeing what was actually in the game. Geoff Keighley revealed the initial teaser trailer for Mass Effect 5 at the Game Awards and in response to the studio's closure said:
"Heartbreaking to hear of the closure of BioWare and the next Mass Effect ending development. I had so much fun collaborating with Casey and the team on the Mass Effect teaser in 2020 -- during the height of COVID. I hope one day, somehow, Mass Effect will return."
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